Sir Elton John: Britain is horrible at present

The music icon thinks his home country has become noticeably less tolerant in recent years - and Sir John believes Britain finds itself in an unhealthy state of mind.

The 69-year-old star - who married his long-term partner David Furnish in 2014 - said: "You know, I don't like it here at the moment, to be honest. I don't like the hatred here.

"It's like David said recently, it's like a boil has been lanced that was there for a long time and suddenly all this hatred has come to the surface.

"People have been OK about gay marriage and things like that and suddenly they're not. I have never, ever thought this of this country until now.

"I was always proud to come from here and to live here, because there are different opposing views about everything but it's a pretty civilised place. At the moment, though, it's not, and I don't like it. It's horrible."

Sir Elton also admitted to feeling pessimistic about the apparent rise in anti-gay rhetoric around the world.

He told the Observer newspaper: "I remember going to Moscow when the gay scene was rampant and you'd go to this club in Moscow where nude men would be swimming though a tank and stuff like that.

"Then the mayor of St Petersburg started taking books out of libraries and clamping down. It's just extraordinary. We live in very strange times, but there are voices of reason and they need to be heard."